Nice little warm-up for tonight's actionh

Arsenal linked with Tyrese Campbell swoop

Arsenal are being credited with an interest in Manchester City’s 15-year-old goal machine Tyrese Campbell, according to the Daily Mail.

Campbell, son of former Gunners striker Kevin, scored a staggering 49 goals for City’s U16 side last season.

And he continued that rich vein of form by netting four the other day in a demolition job of Stoke City.

17:14KEY EVENT

Fernandinho targeting Arsenal win

Fernandinho is determined to secure all three points at the Emirates tonight to bring an end to City’s poor form on the road.

The Blues have not scored in over five hours of football on their travels, having failed to score at Manchester United, Aston Villa and Stoke City since a 4-1 humbling at Tottenham - but the Brazilian believes City can surprise the Gunners.

“They are playing very good football, are above us in the league and they are fighting to be top of the table.

“They have good players, a good manager and they are playing in front of their own fans where it is always tough to play and beat them.

“But I think we have a chance to go there and win this game.”

16:49Tom Marshall-Bailey-MEN

Good afternoon!

I will be taking charge of the City blog for the rest of the afternoon before switching over to the matchday blog at around 6.30pm.

Had a go yet?

Nice moves

Here's the full story on Rummenigge on Pep

Oooh, Tell us Karl!

Bayern Munich chief Karl Heinze Rummenigge is being a bit of a tease in Bild today:

“I think I know where he is going.

“But I want to leave the announcement to him or his new employer.”

14:53

Rob Pollard believes this season will define Manuel Pellegrini’s legacy.

If Pellegrini does leave in June, his achievements this season will be crucial in determining how his legacy is viewed.

A repeat of his first, where he won two major trophies and encouraged some of the finest attacking football of the Premier League era, and he will go down as a club legend – a man who steadied the club after the turbulence of the Roberto Mancini era while maintaining success and improving the team’s style of play.

A frustrating, trophyless campaign like the one he presided over in 2014/15 and he will be remembered as a man who under-delivered despite a wealth of resources.

Transfer news

City’s quest to sign the most promising young players from across the world continues. There are reports this afternoon that a deal to sign Dinamo Zagreb and Croatia U21 attacking midfielder Ante Ćorić, 18, is close.

14:23

City target shows his moves

After Bony earlier today (scroll down for that), now Pogba’s dance moves are all over the internet. Who’s better, though?

14:11

Stats

13:49

Elano arrested

Former City midfielder Elano has been arrested for allegedly assaulting the co-owner of rival FC Goa team after his side Chennaiyin’s dramatic win in the Indian Super League final.

Elano, the captain of Chennaiyin in the ISL, was later released on bail.

13:47

Celina in the travelling party

13:14

Tonight’s game at the Emirates has been billed by some as Mesut Ozil vs David Silva and the London Evening Standard say they are in possession of stats that show the German is now more productive than City’s star man.

Has this been the season when Mesut Ozil has overtaken David Silva to become the Premier League’s most creative force? Stats by fantasy football game Oulala suggest that might just be the case.

After two seasons of fleeting promise at the Emirates Arsenal’s record signing has come good in spectacular style over the past few months. He is the leading assist provider in Europe’s top five leagues, having laid on 13 goals for team-mates in 15 games.

That is dramatically more than David Silva’s six assists, though the Spanish international has played little over half as many games as his opponent on Monday night in an injury-disrupted campaign for Manchester City’s chief creative force.

To Silva’s credit his assists have taken marginally fewer minutes each, with the 29-year-old laying on a goal every 93 minutes compared to Ozil’s 99.

However in every other major category the Arsenal playmaker has the lead, providing twice as many key passes per game, creating 4.3 chances per game to Silva’s 2.3 and completing more passes than the City man.

None of this tonight please, Blues

Pep AND Thiago?

Fan fear

Fernandinho ready for Arsenal test

Has Fernandinho been your MCFC Player of the Season so far? He’s been in outstanding form, and head of tonight’s game he says the Blues will be feeling fit and raring to go.

We had a few days’ break earlier this week which was good because it gives you time to recover and refresh your mind and body and we have a few more days to prepare for this game.

We will be sharp and fresh and ready to play this game. We know what to expect.

They have technical players and can play with a high intensity so we need to be ready for every possible situation – they have fast players up front who can hit you on the counter-attack so, as I say, we need to be ready for everything and create some surprises for them.

Every player wants to play in games like this and I’m no different so I just hope I’m playing and that I can play my part on the night.

12:44

Ozil sounding confident

Mesut Ozil, who has registered 13 Premier League assists so far this season, sounds confident ahead of tonight’s game, saying: “I believe we will take the three points from City. We want to win because it’s at our home and we want to be successful. We are more hungry this season.”

11:58

CFG a huge benefit to City

The CFG may be a new concept but it’s benefiting City already. Read why here.

11:34

Three points very much needed

Here’s the state of play ahead of this evening’s match.

11:28

Pep

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has spoken about Guardiola’s decision to leave the club.

He said:

He came over to me two weeks ago at our Christmas party and told me that he was looking for a new challenge.

He was almost apologetic. I’m not disappointed in him.

You could read between the lines and that was something that we should have interpreted.

We did take note of it, but we just wanted to give him time to make up his mind in peace.

10:51

Pep news!

German paper Bild say that, according to their own information, the Guardiola family are speaking openly about a move to Manchester, with City being the club he is most likely to join.